Barnsley: Heckingbottom wants striker No 2 in Reds signing spree

Barnsley head coach Paul Heckingbottom has revealed he would like to sign a second striker in the transfer window.

Heckingbottom swooped for centre-forward Kieffer Moore in a reported £750,000 deal from Ipswich Town earlier this week.

Kieffer Moore

And the Oakwell boss wants to add another hitman to his squad and also bring in “quite a few more players”.

“I’d like another striker,” said Heckingbottom ahead of tomorrow’s home clash with Championship leaders Wolves.

“There’s a genuine intent from everyone connected with the club to try and get new signings in.

“But the planning should have been in place before now because it’s hard to get players over the line.

“However, with the takeover and things like that, we’re doing the work only now, which is the problem.

“I’m hoping for quite a few more players, to be honest.

“There are dozens of players out there that we’re trying to get close on, but it’s difficult for me to say anything about them because they’re not our players.

“Most of our work is going on abroad, but that’s where the difficulty comes because you don’t know the players.

“It’s an area we want to improve in, but you need structure and more than just character references. It’s a different challenge.”

Heckingbottom has three loan players to bolster his squad in Joe Williams (Everton), Gary Gardner (Aston Villa) and Harvey Barnes (Leicester City), although Williams has been banned for three games for his sending-off in last Saturday’s FA Cup defeat away to Millwall.

“We’re a little bit light at the moment,” admitted Heckingbottom. “We’ve got limited number of players available so we want to strengthen massively.”

Heckingbottom has defensive problems, with Angus MacDonald, Andy Yiadom, Adam Jackson and Matty Pearson all missing through injury, although the latter three are aback in training.

New signing Moore is expected to make his debut alongside Tom Bradshaw, although Bradshaw has been linked with a move to Reading.

Heckingbottom stressed: “We’ve had no bids for any player. Not that I know about.”

Oxford United goalkeeper Simon Eastwood is one of the Reds’ targets and Heckingbottom confirmed: “He fits the profile.”